Brahma, the AI arm of visual effects firm DNEG Group, has acquired Metaphysic, the company whose recent calling card was de-aging Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in the 2024 film Here.
The deal will enable Brahma to deliver more AI offerings for enterprise, IP rightsholders and content creators in the film business and other industries. Brahma will develop foundational AI, data, and content workflow and management technologies as part of a suite of products across video, image and audio.
DNEG Group is known for its work on major franchises like Dune and tentpoles including Blade Runner: 2049, Tenet and Interstellar.
After the transaction, Brahma will have more than 800 engineers and creative technologists in its global workforce. They will be able to leverage Ziva Technologies tools licensed by DNEG for the creation of digital human and character simulations. Ziva garnered a 2025 SciTech Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Metaphysic is also filling up its trophy shelf, earlier this month collecting an award from the Visual Effects Society for emerging technology.
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Here, which was directed by Robert Zemeckis, relied heavily on AI-driven effects to tell the story of a couple and their home through many centuries. Despite its extensive effects, which helped Zemeckis depict Hanks and Wright across seven decades, Here cost only about $50 million. Metaphysic and other AI specialists have evangelized about the cost efficiencies AI is bringing along with creative breakthroughs. (While it will be regarded as a technological milestone, Here was unsuccessful in theaters, grossing less than $16 million worldwide in its release by Sony/TriStar.)
Brahma’s executive management team includes Executive Chairman Prabhu Narasimhan; Founder and CEO of the DNEG Group Namit Malhotra, who continues as interim CEO of Brahma; and Metaphysic CEO Thomas Graham, who also serves as President of Brahma. Once Metaphysic is fully integrated into Brahma, Graham will become CEO of Brahma.
Narasimhan said the combination takes DNEG’s Academy Award-winning visual effects and animation technology and blends it with “the incredible power of generative AI.” The result, he said, will be “what we believe will be the industry’s leading photorealistic AI video creator. I am excited to take Brahma from a niche user base focused on high-end movie and TV production to enterprise and content creators across every industry. If you have the imagination and a story to tell, we have the tools to bring your story to life faster, cheaper, and better.”
Graham added, “Brahma offers every business a strategy for generative AI content creation, from owning their data to delivering amazing, user-customized AI content across video, image, and audio. By bringing together the incredible teams at Brahma and Metaphysic, we can deliver an operating system for generative AI content that starts with securing your IP and ends with new revenue streams built on a suite of products that deliver Hollywood-quality content and experiences at unprecedented scale.”
The post AI Arm Of ‘Dune’ Visual Effects Firm DNEG Acquires Metaphysic, Which De-Aged Tom Hanks In ‘Here’ appeared first on Deadline.
